The topic of integration in the German media
Honour killings
by Vanessa Seifert
Our first topic are so-called “honour killings“. This is an important topic in the German media with regard to immigrant families.
First of all I would like to explain in a few words what the meaning of honor killing is and what you should know about this subject. The word “honor killing“ describes the intentional homicide or murder of a mostly female member of a family to prevent a social lowering by breaking a gender-related rules of etiquette.
According to estimates of the world population report of the UNO at least 5,000 girls and women are yearly murdered worldwide because of " moral honour “. The justification of these murders are traditional codes of honor which fix certain rules of etiquette. The honor of a person or the family, a group or even the land is classified as an especially high and protection-worth norm which they want to protect and to defend.
In other words: A woman has broken traditional rules of behaviour. Often, her life-style is regarded as too Western, too liberal or too independent by male members of her family. So maybe she has had her own mind, has visited dance clubs on her own, has had German friends or even boy-friends and so on.
In the German press nearly every family drama which has happened in a Muslim family is called an honor killing. Why the press only speaks of honor killing when the culprit is a Turk or Kurd is not clear while reading the articles. When there is a report about such an honor killing, they don’t make a difference between Kurdish and Turkish families, either.
In the press they only speak of Muslims or Turkish families.
I would like to introduce here a rather untypical example of an honor killing.
Some day during the 25 years of marriage Recai became drug addicted. Because he was already without occupation, he went back to Turkey. But he came back to Munich, began drinking and terrorising his wife.
In March 2008 his wife obtained the right that he was forbidden to enter the flat of the family.
Recai moved in a man's hostel and planned his revenge from there.
On the 15th of July, 2008 he waited for his wife in the middle of Munich. She picked her young daughter up from school. First he kissed their daughter. After that, he hit Ayse with a bottle on her head. She broke down. But Recai did not desist from her. Instead he continued to hit her with the broken bottle on head and neck while she lay on the ground in her blood.
Two passers-by could pull him away and hold him on the ground. Recai shouted: “ Hopefully she is dead, hopefully I have hit the nerves.“ He was drunk, but he still knew what he was doing. Maybe he had drunk because he hoped for a milder punishment. Later he could be arrested without resistance by the police.
On the 15th of May, 2009 Recai was found guilty of attempted murder and dangerous physical injury by the district court of Munich. He was convicted to 12 years of prison and hospitalization in a drug clinic.
Fortunately the young woman was not killed, often such attacks end deadly. Nevertheless, it becomes clear, that there are typical motives. The woman defends herself against her brutal man, goes to a court and does not allow him to come home any more. The man feels injured in his honor and wants to revenge himself.
Turkish neo-fascist movements in the Federal Republic of Germany
by Cem Halil Yada
In Germany there are living millions of Turks at the end of 2009, they were relatives of the first emigrants which came to Germany as part of the great labour migration in 50ies. Radical political groups, neo fascist as well as islamist groups, have a lot of influence under the Turkish community in Germany. In this text, I am going to write something about the neo fascist movement. The ultra nationalist Turkish movement was founded around 1968 and the time after it as a response to the ultra left groups which were based on communism.
This movement was founded by the former army sergeant Alparslan Türkes and it is very racistic, enemies of them are Armenians, Americans who are called crusaders, Jewish People who are called Zionists, also Communism and especially the Kurdish People and the terroristic organisation PKK. The political party of the Turkish fascists is the MHP (Milliyet Hareket Partisi), which were elected as the strongest party in some provinces (for example Adana) in the last election campaign in 2007.
The first Grey Wolves, as they call themselves, were militias, which were trained in military camps in the Middle- and Eastern parts of Anatolia. (It is possible that this idea of training young people and indoctrinating them was inspired by the Hitlerjugend in Nazi Germany, in general it is possible to say that the MHP works in the same way as the NSDAP did it in Nazi Germany, for example the MHP leader Türkes said one time that Hitler was “a good man” and that he is an example for him).
The members of the Grey wolves are very brutal and know no mercy to their enemies, it is said that the organisation is responsible for thousands of deaths between 1968 and 2008- often they were tortured before death. The Turkish Secret Service thinks that the Grey Wolves are also working together with the Turkish organized crime. In the years after 1968 and also in the 70s the organisation fought a kind of civil war in Turkey against left organisations and parties, this conflict was also a reason for the military activity in 1980 under General Evren. This shows one fact: The Turkish Nationalists are maybe one of the biggest threats of Turkish Democracy and Freedom.
The Party searched new members and tried to expand to Europe, also to have better relations to the mafia and to sell drugs, this is one of their biggest ways of making money, so the leader Türkes ordered some of his followers to go to Germany and also to France, especially as Germany had been target of massive labour migration since 1955. Their profession was to infiltrate the Turkish communities. Today the Grey Wolves are very popular under Turkish young people, reason for that could be the crisis of identity of the young people, because they are neither real Turkish nor real German, they belong to both cultures and nations and a lot of them have problems with that fact.
In the German media, the Grey Wolves and other extreme right- wing parties are seen very critically, because of German history. The activities of these Turkish Nationalists are very different, they are organizing for example demonstrations against the Armenian genocide in 1915 or against the PKK, but also they are building football places for the young people. But they are also made responsible for a lot of different honour killings and for attacks on Kurdish people in Germany as well as on Communists.
It is also rumoured that some of the Grey Wolves belong to the Turkish Mafia and have got a lot of influence in the market of drug trafficking. The biggest problems they bring to Germany is that they are also partly responsible for the failure of the integration of the Turkish community in the German Society. So to sum up one could say that the Turkish nationalist movement is a threat for both nations, Germany and also Turkey.
“Aktion zusammen wachsen”
by Jale Yasan
Germany has got a large list of integration programs. One of the most important integration program is called “Aktion zusammen wachsen” (“Growing together”) which includes many different projects and initiatives.
It’s an education project in association with godparents. Committed citizens support children and teenagers of immigrant families by helping them to learn the German language, doing their homework or by advising and attending them on the way from school to occupation.
The program’s aims are e.g. to advance the integration of people with migration background and to invigorate, stabilize and to mobilize the civic commitment. There are also other aims like the invigoration of the existing projects and to start some new ones, or to support the social co-existence of migrants and ethnic Germans. Another very important aim is to stop discrimination and hostility against foreigners.
To realize all these things, the program has got a lot of things to do. The tasks are to provide attorneyships for migrants and of course to help with orientation and integration - especially for new migrants. Also to give advice about school and occupation and questions concerning further migration or return to their home countries. As well the support for organizations and the formation of some new ones.
Honour killings
by Vanessa Seifert
Our first topic are so-called “honour killings“. This is an important topic in the German media with regard to immigrant families.
First of all I would like to explain in a few words what the meaning of honor killing is and what you should know about this subject. The word “honor killing“ describes the intentional homicide or murder of a mostly female member of a family to prevent a social lowering by breaking a gender-related rules of etiquette.
According to estimates of the world population report of the UNO at least 5,000 girls and women are yearly murdered worldwide because of " moral honour “. The justification of these murders are traditional codes of honor which fix certain rules of etiquette. The honor of a person or the family, a group or even the land is classified as an especially high and protection-worth norm which they want to protect and to defend.
In other words: A woman has broken traditional rules of behaviour. Often, her life-style is regarded as too Western, too liberal or too independent by male members of her family. So maybe she has had her own mind, has visited dance clubs on her own, has had German friends or even boy-friends and so on.
In the German press nearly every family drama which has happened in a Muslim family is called an honor killing. Why the press only speaks of honor killing when the culprit is a Turk or Kurd is not clear while reading the articles. When there is a report about such an honor killing, they don’t make a difference between Kurdish and Turkish families, either.
In the press they only speak of Muslims or Turkish families.
I would like to introduce here a rather untypical example of an honor killing.
Some day during the 25 years of marriage Recai became drug addicted. Because he was already without occupation, he went back to Turkey. But he came back to Munich, began drinking and terrorising his wife.
In March 2008 his wife obtained the right that he was forbidden to enter the flat of the family.
Recai moved in a man's hostel and planned his revenge from there.
On the 15th of July, 2008 he waited for his wife in the middle of Munich. She picked her young daughter up from school. First he kissed their daughter. After that, he hit Ayse with a bottle on her head. She broke down. But Recai did not desist from her. Instead he continued to hit her with the broken bottle on head and neck while she lay on the ground in her blood.
Two passers-by could pull him away and hold him on the ground. Recai shouted: “ Hopefully she is dead, hopefully I have hit the nerves.“ He was drunk, but he still knew what he was doing. Maybe he had drunk because he hoped for a milder punishment. Later he could be arrested without resistance by the police.
On the 15th of May, 2009 Recai was found guilty of attempted murder and dangerous physical injury by the district court of Munich. He was convicted to 12 years of prison and hospitalization in a drug clinic.
Fortunately the young woman was not killed, often such attacks end deadly. Nevertheless, it becomes clear, that there are typical motives. The woman defends herself against her brutal man, goes to a court and does not allow him to come home any more. The man feels injured in his honor and wants to revenge himself.
Turkish neo-fascist movements in the Federal Republic of Germany
by Cem Halil Yada
In Germany there are living millions of Turks at the end of 2009, they were relatives of the first emigrants which came to Germany as part of the great labour migration in 50ies. Radical political groups, neo fascist as well as islamist groups, have a lot of influence under the Turkish community in Germany. In this text, I am going to write something about the neo fascist movement. The ultra nationalist Turkish movement was founded around 1968 and the time after it as a response to the ultra left groups which were based on communism.
This movement was founded by the former army sergeant Alparslan Türkes and it is very racistic, enemies of them are Armenians, Americans who are called crusaders, Jewish People who are called Zionists, also Communism and especially the Kurdish People and the terroristic organisation PKK. The political party of the Turkish fascists is the MHP (Milliyet Hareket Partisi), which were elected as the strongest party in some provinces (for example Adana) in the last election campaign in 2007.
The first Grey Wolves, as they call themselves, were militias, which were trained in military camps in the Middle- and Eastern parts of Anatolia. (It is possible that this idea of training young people and indoctrinating them was inspired by the Hitlerjugend in Nazi Germany, in general it is possible to say that the MHP works in the same way as the NSDAP did it in Nazi Germany, for example the MHP leader Türkes said one time that Hitler was “a good man” and that he is an example for him).
The members of the Grey wolves are very brutal and know no mercy to their enemies, it is said that the organisation is responsible for thousands of deaths between 1968 and 2008- often they were tortured before death. The Turkish Secret Service thinks that the Grey Wolves are also working together with the Turkish organized crime. In the years after 1968 and also in the 70s the organisation fought a kind of civil war in Turkey against left organisations and parties, this conflict was also a reason for the military activity in 1980 under General Evren. This shows one fact: The Turkish Nationalists are maybe one of the biggest threats of Turkish Democracy and Freedom.
The Party searched new members and tried to expand to Europe, also to have better relations to the mafia and to sell drugs, this is one of their biggest ways of making money, so the leader Türkes ordered some of his followers to go to Germany and also to France, especially as Germany had been target of massive labour migration since 1955. Their profession was to infiltrate the Turkish communities. Today the Grey Wolves are very popular under Turkish young people, reason for that could be the crisis of identity of the young people, because they are neither real Turkish nor real German, they belong to both cultures and nations and a lot of them have problems with that fact.
In the German media, the Grey Wolves and other extreme right- wing parties are seen very critically, because of German history. The activities of these Turkish Nationalists are very different, they are organizing for example demonstrations against the Armenian genocide in 1915 or against the PKK, but also they are building football places for the young people. But they are also made responsible for a lot of different honour killings and for attacks on Kurdish people in Germany as well as on Communists.
It is also rumoured that some of the Grey Wolves belong to the Turkish Mafia and have got a lot of influence in the market of drug trafficking. The biggest problems they bring to Germany is that they are also partly responsible for the failure of the integration of the Turkish community in the German Society. So to sum up one could say that the Turkish nationalist movement is a threat for both nations, Germany and also Turkey.
“Aktion zusammen wachsen”
by Jale Yasan
Germany has got a large list of integration programs. One of the most important integration program is called “Aktion zusammen wachsen” (“Growing together”) which includes many different projects and initiatives.
It’s an education project in association with godparents. Committed citizens support children and teenagers of immigrant families by helping them to learn the German language, doing their homework or by advising and attending them on the way from school to occupation.
The program’s aims are e.g. to advance the integration of people with migration background and to invigorate, stabilize and to mobilize the civic commitment. There are also other aims like the invigoration of the existing projects and to start some new ones, or to support the social co-existence of migrants and ethnic Germans. Another very important aim is to stop discrimination and hostility against foreigners.
To realize all these things, the program has got a lot of things to do. The tasks are to provide attorneyships for migrants and of course to help with orientation and integration - especially for new migrants. Also to give advice about school and occupation and questions concerning further migration or return to their home countries. As well the support for organizations and the formation of some new ones.
Ernst-Reuter-Initiative
by Janina Babst
The Ernst-Reuter-Initiative was founded in Istanbul in 2006 by Frank Walter Steinmeier (then Foreign Secretary of Germany) and the Turkish Foreign Secretary at that time, Abdullah Gül. The aim of this initiative is the strengthening of the German-Turkish collaboration and the intensification of the intercultural dialogue of these two countries.
In the end of 2008, 16 projects had the symbol of the Ernst-Reuter-Initiative. These projects support the cooperation in art-culture, politics-media, economy and science.
One of these projects is called “Bundesmigrantinnen” - pictures of migration in public space. In this project, migrants are showing in art-style, what they are hoping and dreaming for. In workshops, the migrants talk about their experiences in the new country where they live and each oft them makes sketches about how they feel.
These sketches are developed into pictograms and are shown on advertisings and digital animation screens in the underground, on flyers or on bags. This project has staken place in the cities Berlin, Hamburg and Köln.
Integration in Seelze
by Markus Baumeister
7% of the 34.000 people, living in our town Seelze, are immigrants. But if you take into account immigrants with German nationality, especially ethnic German emigrants (e.g. from Russia), the rate is about 10%.
For this presentation, we read the local newspaper of Seelze, called “Leinezeitung” with special regard to articles about immigrants and integration projects. There were many reports about different activities and projects by the city of Seelze. These articles show that our city does a lot to improve the integration of immigrants.
The most important target of the integration work in Seelze is defined as follows: To create a good atmosphere by fighting against any hatred and hostility against immigrants.
Targets of integration in Seelze:
There are three ways in which the city of Seelze tries to reach these aims:
personal support
projects
integration pilots
1.The social service does help persons in different situations individually. First of all, the immigrants make a “living-plan” together with the social workers, by taking into account the individual needs of every immigrant. Furthermore immigrants have the chance to ask for help whenever they have problems. The most important indicators for integration are education and language skills, immigrants who accept the German culture and even learn the language, have better chances to integrate themselves fast and to become independent of the state-facilities.
2.The integration is additionally promoted by special projects, supporting the approach of immigrants and Germans. In Seelze, this work is attended by a delegated woman for integration. From 2005 to 2010 she realized more than 7 projects together with the administration and immigrants. Moreover, especially children and teenagers are supported in their integration, for example by doing sports in a club, because in this age integration succeeds better.
3.Since 2009, two women support immigrated families in their every-day-life. These women work voluntarily and additionally to the staffs of the administration. Because of the short while they have been working, there are no solid results of their work yet.
Illustration of one project to integrate immigrants:
In 2008, seven immigrated boys and one German build a cargo rail station model, under instruction of the joinery and administration in Seelze. There were 3 Russian boys, 1 Turkish, 1 Albanian and 1 Polish immigrant in the project. This project had the following targets:
practical:
- learning technical skills
- focusing local workforce
educational:
- supporting solidarity
- working for the commonwealth
- supporting the understanding for each other
- establishing new social contacts
The result:
This model was issued during the 100th celebration of the cargo rail station. The boys were very proud of what they had achieved. The rail station is the biggest one in Northern Germany and one of the most important places in Seelze. Today the model is placed in the museum of local history in Seelze.The EU has supported this project financially.
In the end of 2008, 16 projects had the symbol of the Ernst-Reuter-Initiative. These projects support the cooperation in art-culture, politics-media, economy and science.
One of these projects is called “Bundesmigrantinnen” - pictures of migration in public space. In this project, migrants are showing in art-style, what they are hoping and dreaming for. In workshops, the migrants talk about their experiences in the new country where they live and each oft them makes sketches about how they feel.
These sketches are developed into pictograms and are shown on advertisings and digital animation screens in the underground, on flyers or on bags. This project has staken place in the cities Berlin, Hamburg and Köln.
Integration in Seelze
by Markus Baumeister
7% of the 34.000 people, living in our town Seelze, are immigrants. But if you take into account immigrants with German nationality, especially ethnic German emigrants (e.g. from Russia), the rate is about 10%.
For this presentation, we read the local newspaper of Seelze, called “Leinezeitung” with special regard to articles about immigrants and integration projects. There were many reports about different activities and projects by the city of Seelze. These articles show that our city does a lot to improve the integration of immigrants.
The most important target of the integration work in Seelze is defined as follows: To create a good atmosphere by fighting against any hatred and hostility against immigrants.
Targets of integration in Seelze:
There are three ways in which the city of Seelze tries to reach these aims:
personal support
projects
integration pilots
1.The social service does help persons in different situations individually. First of all, the immigrants make a “living-plan” together with the social workers, by taking into account the individual needs of every immigrant. Furthermore immigrants have the chance to ask for help whenever they have problems. The most important indicators for integration are education and language skills, immigrants who accept the German culture and even learn the language, have better chances to integrate themselves fast and to become independent of the state-facilities.
2.The integration is additionally promoted by special projects, supporting the approach of immigrants and Germans. In Seelze, this work is attended by a delegated woman for integration. From 2005 to 2010 she realized more than 7 projects together with the administration and immigrants. Moreover, especially children and teenagers are supported in their integration, for example by doing sports in a club, because in this age integration succeeds better.
3.Since 2009, two women support immigrated families in their every-day-life. These women work voluntarily and additionally to the staffs of the administration. Because of the short while they have been working, there are no solid results of their work yet.
Illustration of one project to integrate immigrants:
In 2008, seven immigrated boys and one German build a cargo rail station model, under instruction of the joinery and administration in Seelze. There were 3 Russian boys, 1 Turkish, 1 Albanian and 1 Polish immigrant in the project. This project had the following targets:
practical:
- learning technical skills
- focusing local workforce
educational:
- supporting solidarity
- working for the commonwealth
- supporting the understanding for each other
- establishing new social contacts
The result:
This model was issued during the 100th celebration of the cargo rail station. The boys were very proud of what they had achieved. The rail station is the biggest one in Northern Germany and one of the most important places in Seelze. Today the model is placed in the museum of local history in Seelze.The EU has supported this project financially.
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